Testing out some landscaping ideas for the new home Dmitr's building me.

Tree: Tree SPRING (yellow) by MiaSnow
Grass: Magic Grass - Square 10x10x1 - v2 by OneDom

Moving Day

Initially, this entry simply started out as a way to show off my new SL home and avoid struggling with writer's block over a new fashion post. However, once I began writing, it decided it wanted to be an article on how to have an affordable, low-prim home that looks fancy - so that's what it is.

Since joining SecondLife in 2006, I've moved sims at least eight times. That doesn't even include the multitude of times I decided my SL living space needed a complete makeover, nuked everything, and started again from scratch - I've lived in in castles, mansions, seaside homes both posh and grungy, various airships, and a bayou shack complete with an alligator in the front yard. Thankfully, moving is a lot easier to do in the virtual realm than in the one of flesh and blood!

After a luxuriously long period of not really having to worry about prim count, I'm back to having to be a bit more frugal. I knew this day would eventually come, so I'd been picking up nice cheap and free skyboxes when I found them. (One good place for such deals is A.S.S., who frequently offer beautiful, low-prim skyboxes for $100L or less. You can even view full-size demos at their store.) As seen in these photos, my home weighs in at 169 prims, and even that could be significantly reduced by picking up or editing one or two higher prim items.

This is the Hookah Lounge, a gift from The Sea Hole in the Stash Bash Hunt which took place earlier this year. (April 20th, of course. *wink*) It's 67 prims, including the beautiful garden you see through the windows, a shelf for decorations, functional hanging lights, a hookah, and a myriad of cushions containing a ton of animated sits. It also came with a bit of art baked into the wall textures, some of which I've covered up with art from my own collection. (Mostly by one of my favored artists, Trindolyn Beck. Trindolyn's artwork can be viewed and purchased at India Ink Gallery.)

Because I feel my talents in SecondLife home creation lie more in the realm of decorating than building, I usually rely on prefab homes or, if I'm really lucky, one of my multitude of talented friends will generously offer to build me one. (I'm spoiled and I know it, but I'm also greatly appreciative of those who've spoiled me.) So let's move on to how I made this prefab, partially-furnished skybox feel like home...

The plate of Deceptively Delicious Cupcakes (24 prim) - which dispenses a variety of fatal pastries - was a $50L Woeful Wednesday item from Relics of Kadath. This weekend's Super Bargain Saturday sales yielded a cute Thistle Homes copy/mod chair (13 prims) for only $60L, the absinthe table (41 prims) is something I put together using past hunt gifts from The Fooding and Post, and the round cushion (4 prims) beneath the hanging lights is an adorable texture-change chair from Cheeky Pea. (I think it was a gift or sale item, but I sadly failed to make any notes about it.) Finally, at $230L, the skulls and candles from New Trails were a bit of a splurge, but the pack is well worth the cost. The entire set is copy/mod and includes the following items:

~ 35 skulls in 6 different colors (3 prims each)
~ scripted on/off candles in 5 colors (2 prims each)
~ 2 scripted color shifting plants (single & patch options - 1 prim each)
~ stone wall with skulls and color-changing lights (24 prims)

It's early days yet, so I still have some more decorating to do, but I'm pleased with how things are coming along so far.

Lookin' Out My Backdoor

I recently got this lovely full-perm greenhouse from Be Enchanted ($150L on the marketplace), and have been scouring the hunts, sales, and usual freebie outlets for quality items to furnish it with; gleefully filling my inventory with all of the flowers, plants, and vegetable gardens denied to me in my First Life by cats and urban living. (Actually, since I love both cats and urban living, it's more of a willing compromise.) These images are some unedited shots I took tonight after I made a few additions - including Vince & Howard, who're paying the scarecrow no mind because, after all, they're bunnies, not crows.

Aria by Eliza Wierwight

Last night, my friends Nigel & Orlando pointed me toward a gorgeous art exhibit called, "Aria" by Eliza Wierwight. These are undedited shots I took within the installation, using the artists' recommended windlight settings. (Clicking the Aria sign at the entrance of the tour will provide you with this information as well as additional details about the artist and her work.)

Ms. Wierwight says, "Aria was designed to be 'walked' through. To slowly reveal. I understand it's cheeky of me but I strongly suggest that you don't fly or cam around. Of course it's entirely up to you!!!!!" She also recommends enabling music and media, as she considers them to be "an integral part of the overall experience." I fully agree with both of these suggestions and am even going to go a step further and recommend listening to the music stream through headphones to further the immersive experience.

If you want to make an impression on that special someone, "Aria" would be the perfect place to do it - there are even places to sit and sip champagne (click the bottles in the ice buckets), a couples dance ball, and a beautiful keepsake music box you can pick up for free. Just hop on over to Originalia and take a leisurely stroll along the pathway, following the wooden signposts and, ideally, stopping to enjoy the other art installations along the way. I don't know how much longer this exhibit will be in place, so sooner is probably better than later.

He Waits

You leave the light on at your door
You cross your heart
You cross the bedroom floor
And through the window to your world
You can feel me there and you know I'm waiting...

'cause sometimes you just have to take a break from fashion write-ups to post photos of pretty boys.

This is my dear friend Nigel Riel, the person responsible for coaxing me into Second Life nearly five years ago, and a supremely talented SL photographer and builder. (In fact, he's currently hard-at-work constructing one of the sims for the upcoming Fashion for Life charity event which kicks off later this month.) I snapped this shot a few days ago while he was photographing the two of us.

Nigel best described our friendship when he said, "We have a long and very... intricate past, she and I. We know each other's demons better than we know our own."

I love ya man.

Curvaceous

MiaSnow Myriam has been one of my favorite designers for several years now. I'm especially fond of her skins, many of which would be perfect for the denizens of a less-than-reputable carnival or any number of fantastic characters one might find skipping, slinking, or scampering through the world of the curious and terrible. I'm sure you'll be seeing her name pop up here on a regular basis. Above is a photo I took earlier last month at MiaSnow's new sim, Twomoons Island, which is also home to India Ink Gallery where you can find the fabulous artwork of Mister Trindolyn Beck.

My WoW tee is part of a dollarbie line currently being offered by Boom.



By the way, please feel free to drop me a line if my blog is looking particularly wonky on your end. My preferred browser is Google Chrome, and I've discovered that there's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to trying to get websites to look decent in both it and IE.

Pose in Second Photo: Adriana Lima 4 by Striking Poses